Canadians in poll: Bring our pot prince home

An Angus Reid Public Opinion poll released this week shows that a majority of Canadians want Emery to serve his five-year prison sentence in their country.

Emery, a pot activist who ran a marijuana-seed business in Vancouver, was sentenced in federal court in Seattle in September. He pleaded guilty to a drug charge in May after reaching a plea deal.

He is an outspoken supporter of legalizing pot, has run for public office on that platform and ran an online magazine, Cannabis Culture.

A federal grand jury indicted Emery in 2005 after U.S. drug agents bought seeds at his Vancouver business. He fought the charges for years, saying he was targeted for his political beliefs. At the time of his indictment, the head of the Drug Enforcement Administration called the investigation a blow to the movement to legalize pot.

But prosecutors later said politics had nothing to do with the case.

Emery wants to serve his sentence in Canada, and a campaign has been launched to get the Canadian government to accept his transfer to a prison there.

Emery has written in a recent post in Cannabis Culture that he will serve time — at least for now — at a privately run, low-security prison in Folkston, Ga.

The Angus Reid poll found that 54 percent of 1,010 Canadians questioned think he should be behind bars in Canada. A third wanted him held in the U.S.